Little Red Sophie
by fire angel8
Summary: What happens when you mix Howl, Sophie, and the moral of Little Red Riding Hood? Well my homework of course! Enjoy the funny short story about our favorite Diana Wynne Jones and Miyazaki couple!


**Hey all! This is just a silly short story I had to write for my English 101 class. I had just got done reading the book, watching the movie, and reading the loose sequel: Castle In The Air. So I had Howl and Sophie on the brain and this is what happened. It is supposed to reflect the same moral as Little Red Riding Hood. I didn't want to do the whole sexual predator thing because I knew everyone else would do that. So I took the whole "Don't stray from the path" moral. Anyway enough jabbering onto the story! Read and review! Thanks )**

**A/N: The story had to be set in modern times so there is no magic or anything in it, my teacher wouldn't understand that. Hope you all enjoy anyway!**

"Howl, you have been in the bathroom for an hour already! We are going to be late!" Sophie yelled at her husband. Howl and Sophie were supposed to be on their way to her sisters wedding, but Howl had yet to come out of the bathroom.

"Just a minute, I'm almost done!" Howl yelled back from inside the bathroom. Sophie sat down in the chair next to the fireplace with a sigh.

"Don't look at me, you married him," said Michael. Michael is a orphan that Howl took in and raised. Maybe out of sympathy, no one was quite sure. Whichever way you spin it, Michael is part of the family and looked to remain that way. Sophie didn't reply, there was no need to. Sophie and Michael knew that Howl wouldn't ever change. "On the bright side," he continued, "at least he isn't taking two hours in there anymore." Sophie laughed bitterly at that, she remembered those days.

"Ok, I am ready now." Howl announced as he came out of the bathroom wearing a traditional black and white tuxedo with his pale blonde hair slicked back elegantly. Sophie had to admit to herself that he looked rather dashing.

"Well, it's about time," said Sophie in a disapproving tone.

"Well, you are looking lovely," countered Howl as he looked her over. Sophie was in a purple knee-length dress with heels to match and she wore her auburn hair down. Sophie sighed at Howls attempt to charm her.

"Would you just come on, we are going to be late. We were supposed to leave twenty minutes ago." Sophie said walking purposefully to the front door. Howl got there before Sophie did and politely opened the door for her. Sophie was in no mood to even give any thanks. Howl sighed dejectedly and followed his wife out to the car.

"Sophie, don't be mad at me. You know I hate it when you do that." Howl whined. Sophie knew she was being silly but that did not make her feel any better. Sophie also knew that she was mad at her sister and not at Howl. Sophie thought for sure that her sister would make her maid of honor but didn't. Her sister had a big wedding planned out but her fiancé had refused. So now Howl and Sophie were merely going as witnesses to her sisters very small wedding. Sophie knew she should be lucky that she is even going at all, her sister could have eloped. Howl and Sophie slipped into his flashy red lamborghini and speed off to the chapel. Sophie relaxed in the passenger seat and tried to calm herself down. "It's not her fault you know." Howl said soothingly.

"I know," Sophie said with a sigh then continued, "It seems to me that if my sister wants a big wedding then she should get one."

"Yes, but isn't that what marriage is about, compromise?" Howl said still trying to be rational. Sophie put her hands up in defeat but said no more on the subject. Howl was smart enough not to push Sophie in the mood she was in and gave up on the subject as well. Silence filled the car for awhile until Howl said, "Oh man, traffic." Sophie looked ahead and indeed there was quite a bit of traffic, so much so that they couldn't even get on the express way. Howl made a quick left u-turn that made Sophie clutch her chair for dear life.

"What are you doing?" Sophie screamed as Howl cut off another car in his made escape from the traffic.

"I am taking a short cut." Howl replied rather smugly. Some part of Sophie was sure that Howl was having far too much fun with this.

"There isn't any short cut that will get us there! My sister gave me very specific directions." protested Sophie, but Howl was not having any of it.

"We will never make it to the wedding in time if we stay in that traffic." Howl pointed out. Sophie opened her mouth to say that if he hadn't taken up so much time in the bathroom that they would have been there by now but thought better of it. Right now, Sophie just wanted to make it there in one piece. Howl turned onto a narrow back road just then and Sophie thought for sure that he had lost his mind. It now seemed that they were out in the middle of nowhere, the road looked long and deserted. Sophie had a nagging feeling that they should turn around.

"I hope you know where you're going," said Sophie.

"Trust me for once, huh?" Howl replied as he turned to smile at Sophie. Just then the Lamborghini rolled over a rusty nail that happened to be in the middle of the road. Air hissed out of the tire at an alarming rate. Howl muttered profanities under his breath and pulled over on the shoulder. At the moment, Sophie felt like taking care of the other tires on Howls ridiculously expensive car. Howl put the car in park and looked over at Sophie who, he thought, looked even more mad then before.

"Trust you?" was all Sophie said as they both got out of the car to check the damage. The front right tire was almost completely out of air. Howl bent down beside the tire as Sophie leaned against the car watching with a annoyed expression on her face. "Do you have a spare in the back?" Sophie asked. Howl smiled up at Sophie sheepishly flashing a large grin.

"I was just going to do that... next week." Howl admitted Sophie just glared at him. "Well she needed new seat covers and..." Howl was trying desperately to save himself from sleeping on the couch tonight.

"She?" Sophie said in disbelief. Howl was sunk and he knew it, he had no excuse to save him now. It took Sophie all her self control to not smash the windshield with a large rock right then.

"Well we better get to walking, there was a gas station back a ways." Said Howl as he locked his car and started walking beside Sophie. Sophie got her cell phone out of her purse and flipped it open, took one look, and then sighed. "No service?" Her husband asked.

"Nope." Sophie replied sourly, "tonight keeps getting worse and worse."

"Then eventually it has to get better." Howl replied optimistically. Sophie was about to say that she seriously doubted it when a clap of thunder drowned her out.

"Oh, it had better not rain." Sophie grumbled, she was expecting her husband to say something uplifting and encouraging but instead he stopped dead in his tracks. "What is it?" she asked only to get shushed from Howl. Sophie followed her husbands gaze to a big brown bear that was nosing its way out from the bushes that grew along the other side of the road. Sophie sucked in a surprised breath.

"Whatever you do, don't move and don't look him in the eye." Howl whispered in Sophies ear. Neither of them moved but that didn't seem to make a difference to the bear. It swung its massive head around and spotted them. The bear then sniffed the air and started crossing the street towards them. Sophie was about to run for it but Howl grabbed her hand. "Don't move" he repeated. The bear crossed the street and walked slowly towards the couple. Sophie thought for sure that she would pass out then and there but the bear walked past them and strolled to the car. Howl looked mortified, wether or not it was from the rejection or the fact that the bear was now scratching at his car, was not clear. The bear got up on his hind legs and smashed his massive paw through the passenger side window. The bear then proceed to stick his head in the car and then most of his upper body. There was a loud ripping noise fallowed by more scratching and growling. Sophie and Howl stood there awe struck when the bear finally emerged with a sandwich in its teeth and ran off. When they could no longer see the bear, both Sophie and Howl ran to the car. Howl was on the verge of tears as he inspected his poor lamborghini. It was completely ruined. The interior was all cotton and stuffing and deep scratches marred the radio and dashboard. Not to mention that the passenger window was gone. Silence overtook the couple, not even Sophie dared to say anything. As if things couldn't get any worse a clap of thunder broke Sophie and Howl out of their trance. Rain soon fallowed the thunder and the two were now soaked.

"My car..." Howl said so softly it was barley a whisper.

"If we would have listened to my sister, none of this would have happened. And now I am not even going to see her get married." Sophie said as quietly as Howl. Both Howl and Sophie sighed deeply. Eventually they sloshed their way back the gas station and called for help. Michael arrived about twenty minutes later and took the wet, miserable couple home.

"Look on the bright side," Said Michael as they all settled down in the living room to rest, "It could have been you guys that the bear ripped apart. It could have been a lot worse." Howl and Sophie agreed to this sentiment and decided to never buy a expensive car again.

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry I couldn't fit Calcifer in there trust me I wanted to but my teacher wouldn't get it. I will have to make it up to him in my next story that I am planning. Look for it come Halloween!!**

**Remember to review!!**


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